NCIS The Return of Ziva, Part 1
by purpledragongirl22
Summary: Ziva is revealed to be alive, and she's come back. Now, only time will tell what happens next with Ziva, McGee, Bishop, and the others. A new character is shown in Sophie Grace, but is she closer to the operation than you'd think?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS, sadly. I only have Sophie Grace as my original character.

Gibbs leads the woman he found in his basement into NCIS headquarters. "McGee, Bishop, Grace." He pauses. "Grace, what are you still doing here? Weren't you supposed to be meeting your family for lunch?"

"The flight was dela…" The young woman turns around, pausing as soon as she sees Ziva, her face pales. Her eyes are a soft green color, her hair the color of honey. She whirls to Gibbs. "No." She begins to say, then changes her mind. "My father, sister, and son's flight was delayed from Paris. He did send me a couple of photos, however, several of my sister. I can't wait to go one day." She glares at Ziva for a moment before stalking away to MTAC.

"So...she doesn't seem to like me." The accented voice drawls out. Timothy McGee breaks into a smile.

"Ziva!" He moves closer to her and gives her a hug. She hugs him for a moment before stepping away.

"So you're Ziva." Eleanor Bishop says, holding her hand out to shake. "You were a legend around here since you left."

Ziva shakes her hand. "Thank you, for keeping my secret until I had to come forward. But this is business. Gibbs, as I said in your basement, your life is in danger. And that of your team." She adds a last part under her breath. "Even the one that doesn't like me."

"You can't blame her. You just…" Gibbs pauses. "Remind her of someone she can't stand."

"Well, let's get to work on saving you guys." Ziva says, sitting down at her old desk. "I've been monitoring things recently. Including something that happened in Somalia almost ten years ago. With Tony, McGee, and myself. There is a plot to...get back at the United States of America and NCIS." She stares at the wall behind Tony's old desk.

"So we need to be prepared for an attack on our soil." Gibbs muses. "Is your intel credible?"

"It is. In fact, I have something to get to Abby." Ziva pulls a flash drive out of her pocket. "For fingerprinting."

"No, not Abby." Ellie says. "It would be going to Kasie. Kasie Hines. Abby's replacement." She adds at Ziva's look.

"Abby's gone? I never thought Abby would be leaving." Ziva says, shocked.

"Abby had something to take care of in England. So she resigned from NCIS." Ellie replies.

Everyone stands to go to the elevator to go down to the forensic's lab, chattering.

There, they leave the flash drive with Kasie. When they get back upstairs, Grace is sitting in the desk that Ziva was staring at, a photo in her hands. She stands up at the sight of Ziva.

"I'm going to go for a coffee run." She says. "Ms. David, how do you take your coffee?"

"I'll go with you." Ziva tells her, hoping to get to the bottom of why she doesn't like her.

"That's okay…" She pauses, seeing the look in Gibbs's eyes. Sighing, she nods. "Come on, then."

The two enter the elevator. Ziva reaches over and flips off the switch for it. The small room goes dark. "Okay. Why don't you like me?"

"It's not that I don't like you." The woman denies. "I get why you did what you did. But I don't like it." She pauses. "My mom never told my dad about me. She didn't tell me about my dad either. I didn't find out about my dad, or my sister, until I was an adult. Until my child was kidnapped and NCIS ran my Liam's DNA. Everyone knows the stories about you and D-Tony DiNozzo. Including how you kept him in the dark about his child. My little sister's mom did the same thing with her. That's what I don't like."

"So...you feel a connection to my daughter from what your mother did to you?"

"Ms. David, you have no idea." She rolls her eyes. "But, I'm sure that you do understand that I can not stand a woman that keeps her child from their father." With that, she starts the elevator back up.

"I guess I understand. But I did tell Tali about Tony, despite my faults." Ziva pauses. "And if I could go back and do it over, I would tell Tony about our daughter."

"That's one thing you've got on my mom. She never wanted me to find my dad, but I'm glad I did."

"So you have a son?" Ziva asks as the elevator opens. The two step out.

"And a daughter." She opens up her phone and turns on the screen, showing a toddler with dark brown eyes and honey hair, holding a baby in pink with dark fuzzy hair. "My son is Liam. The little girl is Olivia."

"They're beautiful." Ziva says. "Olivia, Liam, and Grace. Their father?"

"Actually, I'm Sophia. Sophie, for short." The other woman says. "My husband is a Marine, which is why NCIS looked into my son's kidnapping." She explains.

"And you found your father." Ziva finishes. "So, where are the children now?"

"My father took Liam on vacation with him, to Paris." Sophie says. "Olivia is with my babysitter."

They leave the building, driving off for coffee. They order, then bring back cream and sugar for their coffees and tea, for Ziva. Sophie loads her coffee with a lot of cream and sugar, reminding Ziva of her lost love.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I still only have the character Sophie as mine.

Ziva and Gibbs step away, talking, whenever Sophie's phone rings. Her father's face appears on the screen, prompting her to cover the screen quickly. While the team knows who her father is, she doesn't want Ziva to find out. She answers it. "Hi, Dad. How's Liam? Li?" She pauses between her questions. "I bet she doesn't. She absolutely loves Paris. Yeah, just like her mom." She chuckles. "Yeah, he's here. Okay. I love you, Dad, here's Gibbs."

She walks over to Gibbs and Ziva. "Sorry to interrupt, but my father would like to speak with you." She debates handing the phone to Ziva, but instead hands it to Gibbs.

The men speak for a few minutes. Gibbs then hangs up the phone and gives it to Sophie. "He says that no planes will take off during the rain and he's stuck for another few days, possibly a week."

"I know, Gibbs. He told me the same thing. And that my sister is delighted that they get to stay for longer, but Liam doesn't want to stay, that he misses me and his dad. So why did he want to talk to you?"

"He told me he's been thinking about ghosts." Gibbs replies. "About your sister's family."

Sophie nods, understanding and not wanting to talk about it. She doesn't want to discuss her sister with practically a stranger right next to the two of them, but maybe she should. "My sister lost her mother when she was two." Sophie tells Ziva. "That's how my dad found out about her."

"How...terrible." Ziva gulps a few times. She thinks of the connection between Sophie's little sister and her own daughter.

"It happens. My dad helped her through it." Sophie shrugs. "My sister is getting better everyday."

"I'm glad that she has your father. I wonder about…" Ziva pauses. "About Tali all the time. Even though she has Tony."

Sophie smiles. "I've heard that Tony is wonderful, but it's hard, turning off the mom radar. You always think that your children are in trouble or hurt." She tries to comfort the woman. "I'm sure that we can get ahold of him, if you want to."

Ziva instantly starts shaking her head. "No, I don't think that would be wise. I think that they still need to believe that I'm dead, because they could be in danger."

Sophie deflates a little bit. "Its okay, I'm sure that one day, you'll be able to tell him. What have we got, boss?" Sophie asks Gibbs.

"A potential threat on Tony DiNozzo, Timothy McGee, and Ziva David." Gibbs replies.

"There's a threat on D-DiNozzo, and you don't want to bring him in for protection?" Sophie questions, her eyes flashing a little bit. "He's got a daughter. A daughter he swore to protect. He needs to come in." She snaps protectively.

"He can't." Gibbs says. "He's currently out of the country and stuck there until the weather clears."

Sophie shakes her head. "Do you think we should warn him? He has a right to know what's going on if it involves his safety."

"She's right." Ziva says. "Does someone have his number so that you can call him?"

"I can get the number." Sophie says. "I'll call him, it might be better coming from me."

"Why?" Ziva asks. "Why would it be better coming from you, a complete stranger?"

"Because he would know that I came straight from Gibbs and that it's no joke."

"That is true." Ziva nods. Sophie walks away, looks at some paperwork, then makes a call.

"Hello." Sophie says. "We have received intel about a potential threat on your life and we would like to make sure that you are able to stay safe."

"I do not understand her." Ziva says to Gibbs. "At first, she did not like me. Now, she seems okay with me, maybe even like me. And now she's protective over a child she's never met"

"Sophie has a strange mindset. She is a difficult person to get to know, truly. I suspect that it's from the news who her father is, what her mother did to both her and him." Gibbs replies. "But we're not talking about her life story. We're talking about a threat to our lives right now."

"Right." Sophie finishes her chat with Tony DiNozzo and walks back over to the two of them. McGee and Bishop join them.


	3. Chapter 3

"They are meeting at a club here in D.C. Unfortunately, they would recognize me if I went in for more information." Ziva begins.

"They wouldn't recognize either of us." Ellie smiles at Ziva. "Either, or both, of us can go into the club and get something for it."

"That would be perfect." Ziva nods. "Both of you, you can pose as friends."

"That won't be too hard." Sophie grins at Ellie. "Since we are friends."

Ellie grins at Sophie when they look at one another. "Yeah, we can do it."

"So, you two will go undercover." Ziva continues. "Tonight. What is the matter?" She asks at Sophie's grimace.

"I don't have a babysitter after my shift ends tonight. If my dad was in town, I'd ask him if he could." Sophie explains.

"I'll watch Olivia, Sophie. Here at base." Gibbs says. "McGee, Ziva, you'll go to the club with them, but out in the van." The three adults nod.

"You'll need to blend in." Ziva says. "We'll go down to storage and look for clothing or-"

"We can go out and get the clothing to wear, so it'll fit us right tonight." Sophie says.

"That should work for all of us." Gibbs says. "Ellie, Sophie, Ziva, go out and get what you need. Then, go to Sophie's home and get her daughter, bring her here."

The three women go to the elevator after grabbing their items. Shouldering her bag, Sophie grins at Ellie. "Something purple for you. Green for me. This'll be so much fun!"

"It isn't meant to be fun." Ziva snaps. "The lives of three people, maybe more, are in danger."

"You don't think I know that?" Sophie turns to Ziva. "But you have to breathe life back into whatever it is that you are doing. Even if it is an intel operation."

"I don't think that you do. My life is in danger, the life of the man that I love is in danger." Ziva says. "Tim's life is in danger."

"I know that. You don't think that I get that? I get it." Sophie says. "With Tony DiNozzo's life is in danger, don't you think that I get that his daughter is in danger? His daughter is what, five? She would be almost two years older than my son. My son, that I've already seen kidnapped. I get that this is important. I get it. But, the way I'm going to deal with it is different than the way you'll deal with it, I guarantee it."

The elevator stops and the three get out of it. "Maybe we shouldn't use someone so...young." Ziva mumbles.

"I'm young, yes." Sophie tells Ziva. "But I've been trained well, by Gibbs himself. And my dad, he was an NCIS agent previously."

"Would I know him?" Ziva asks. Sophie shrugs, not giving her a straight answer. That's what makes Ziva think that she could know the woman's father.

Sophie goes to her car, a Mustang GT, ignoring Ziva and Ellie telling her to ride with them. "I have my car seat in this car. Either we ride separately or you ride over here."

Ziva pauses whenever she sees Sophie's car. She blinks. "You like cars?"

"Yeah." Sophie pauses. "I have a Mini at home that I just looove," Sophie grins. "But I don't drive it all the time."

"Why not?" Ziva asks. "Mini's are great cars, I had one once."

"My father gets sad and misty eyed when he sees it. So I keep it in the garage." Sophie starts her car. "Do you want to ride with me or with Ellie?"

"I'll ride with you, I guess." Ziva grins, opening the passenger's side door. She gets in.

"Buckle up," Sophie says. Ziva gives her a look. "I'm not going anywhere without you buckling your seatbelt."

Ziva buckles her seatbelt silently. "You have a strong maternal instinct."

"I do. I've had to have one." Sophie shrugs. "I got married at seventeen because I was pregnant."

"You don't have to marry because you get pregnant." Ziva tells her.

"You do when two week before you find out you're pregnant, your baby's father signs up for the Marines. And when he tells the officer he signed up with that he's having a baby, the officer says that he would have no rights to the baby unless he's married to the mother." Sophie says. "I'm just glad that I love the baby's father, and have since we were twelve."

"Its okay, you don't have to explain anything to me." Ziva says. "Everyone knows that I've made my fair share of mistakes when it comes to children."

The two make it to the mall. "I figured we could start out here because we'll likely get the most results here."

They exit the car, Ellie meeting them there. "Remember, Ellie, purple for me." She mumbles to herself. "Green for Sophie."

"Ellie, you've got this." Sophie pats her arm. "Let's go pick something out for the two of us."


	4. Chapter 4

Hours later, Sophie has a green dress with a black lace over the top portion. Ellie has also picked up a sparkling green dress with a strap on one shoulder. On their way back to NCIS headquarters, they swing by Sophie's home for her to run in and get her daughter, Olivia. Then, they head back to NCIS.

When Tim sees Sophie's outfit, he shakes his head at her. "Your father better not ever see you in that. He will kill you. And me, for letting you wear it."

"My dad will not kill you. Not when he figures out its for an undercover operation."

"No, then he'd just kill me for letting you go toward danger rather than away from danger!"

"Hey! You two!" Gibbs says with an authoritative tone. "Grace's father will not kill you, McGee. Grace, stop toying with him, you know how he gets."

Sophie grins. "Oh, come on, Gibbs. Dad told me to have fun with McGee since he wasn't here."

"You two need to get ready for tonight." Gibbs points at Ellie and Sophie.

"You're no fun, Gibbs." Sophie pouts. She turns around. "Where should we change?"

"Ziva. Ellie. Sophie. Conference room to change." He points. "Ziva is going to help you zip the outfits."

The three go into the conference room. Ellie begins changing right away, but Sophie waits until Ziva's preoccupied with zipping up Ellie's dress before changing into her own.

"Ellie, when you're done, can you come zip my dress up?" Sophie asks. She doesn't want to risk Ziva seeing her the tattoo on her left shoulder blade.

"I can do that," Ziva protests. "That's what I've been put in here for."

"Uhhh. I'm okay." Sophie says, attempting to zip it by herself. Ellie comes over and zips it the rest of the way. "Thanks, Ellie."

"I don't understand why you don't want me to…" Ziva trails off whenever she sees the necklace on Sophie's neck. "You're Jewish?"

"Uh, sort of. Kinda. I go to Synagogue on Saturdays and Church on Sundays." Sophie says.

"Oh. That's...confusing." Ziva says with a mumble. "I once had a necklace just like that."

"That's cool." Sophie takes off her necklace after hesitating. "It doesn't really go on with the operation."

"What are you going to do with it?" Ellie asks. "With your necklace, I mean. I've never even seen you take it off."

"I'm going to hand it to Ziva. She's going to watch it for me until I can take it back, but only until then."

"I will guard it as best I can." Ziva says, accepting the necklace from Sophie's hand.

"Thank you. It means a lot to me." Sophie slowly takes her hand away from Ziva's. They all leave the conference room.

"I'm ready to go." Sophie says when they get back to the bullpen. She's left her hair down, the skintight dress down almost to her knees. The lace on her top also provides the straps for her dress. No makeup rests on her face.

Ellie is dressed similarly. Her dress flows down to a little bit past her knees. She has a smile on her face, also makeup less. "How do we look?"

"Wow," Tim says, nothing more. He stands up, looking between the two of them.

"I'd say that's the type of reaction that my father wouldn't like." Sophie teases Tim. "After all, he is so protective."

"Oh, come on. You're not going to tell him, are you?" Tim looks a little worried. "Are you?"

"No, I'm not going to tell him. First of all, he no longer has security clearance. For the second, he's in France right now. How do you expect me to tell him?"

"You two talk. Like all the time." Tim protests. "I don't know what y'all talk about."

"Well, he has my son, for one. We talk about my child an awful lot." Sophie says.

"I'm not going to tell him that Ziva's here. But if he ever finds that out, I'm going to be killed by him. Not you." She says softly to Tim, as if she doesn't want Ziva to hear. "Or you." She adds to Ellie. "Because I'm his daughter."

For the thousandth time in the past four hours, Ziva wonders how she knows Sophie's dad, but she doesn't comment on it, since she doesn't know anything about it.


	5. Chapter 5

The four pile into the vehicle whenever Sophie's phone rings. She picks it up. "Hey, Dad. Oh, I don't think its my dad on the phone. Could this be the little Li? I think it is. Can you put Dad on, Li?" There's a pause. "Hi, Dad. I can't believe you're awake over there still. No, we've got this, Dad. No, you know I can't talk about it. You aren't on the case. No, Dad. Dad. Dad! Jesus, hörst du jemals zu und hörst zu?" Another pause. "Yeah, I know you don't know what I just said. I meant to do that on purpose, Dad. It makes you stop and listen. Look, Dad. You know I can't talk about it. Just be careful with everything you do over there."

She hangs up the phone. She stops, then smiles. "Sorry about that. Tim, will you answer my phone if he calls back? He does have my son."

"You know you can count on me." Tim smiles at the three women. "And I'll make sure to tell him all the good news about everything."

"Great." Sophie. "Wait. You can't tell him anything." She turns to Ziva. "Are you sure you don't want Tony DiNozzo told that you're alive? All the stories kinda said how obsessed he got with finding out who killed you and to get to the bottom of things."

"I'm sure, Sophie. Don't ask me again. This is my decision. He's been informed of the danger on his life." Ziva snaps.

"Fine. Don't get all twisted up about it." Sophie says. "But he's going to find out, if he's as good of an agent as everyone says."

"You know I already said no. I'm not going to tell Anthony DiNozzo that I'm alive." Ziva adds.

"I said don't get all twisted up about it. Don't worry about it." Sophie rolls her eyes. "Are we at the club yet? Your driving makes me nauseous."

"I'm sorry. I'm used to driving fast. You drive fast, you survive." Ziva says, biting her lip.

Sophia doesn't reply, leaning back. She looks at Ellie. "You won't be drinking tonight, will you?"

"I find that drinking lowers my ability to function cognitively." She replies. "So, no. I will not be drinking. And I know you won't be either."

"Its against the law to drink under the age of twenty-one. I know that. Plus, I think my dad would be quite disappointed if I were to drink on the job."

"Oh come on!" Tim chuckles. "Your dad was the king of drinking while undercover. Well, maybe not the king, but pretty high up there."

"Okay. Enough. Who is your father?" Ziva asks, turning to face the two girls.

"Face the road, woman!" Sophie points to the windshield, where a car is coming right at them.

Ziva quickly rights the vehicle, but her question isn't forgotten. "Are you not going to tell me?"

"Nope." Sophie makes sure to pop the "p" from the word. "I'm not going to tell you."

"Why not?" Ziva asks. "It is not as if I will do anything about it."

"Because you don't need to know who he is. Just like DiNozzo doesn't need to know that you're alive."

"You can stop telling me that I should tell Tony that I'm alive. I can't tell him, okay? It'll be too hard to tell him. He won't understand, and Tali definitely won't."

"I'm not going to tell him. Nobody's going to tell him without your consent." Tim says, trying to calm the tension in the van.

"Nope. No one is going to tell him that you're alive." Sophie says, leaning back. "You'll have to be the one to tell him. Unless he finds out first."

They make it to the club. Ellie and Sophie stand up and exit, but before they put in their earwigs. They head inside and zone in on the VIP section. The two gradually make their way over there, talking and chattering about nothing and everything. Sophie smiles at the young man she sees standing near her. As they are speaking Arabic, they do not think that the two women can understand them, inviting the "pretty American girls" to sit with them.

"Do they know what is being said near them?" Ziva asks. "Or do I need to live translate for them."

"Sophie speaks four languages, including Arabic." Tim says, not taking his eyes off of the screen.

"I heard her speaking the German. She asked her father if he ever stopped and listened." Ziva says as a giggle comes through on the screen. "She's good at this, I guess you could say it runs in her blood."

"I guess you could." Tim agrees, turning to look at her. "But so does fire. She won't stop about you telling Tony. She thinks he deserves to know you're alive."

"I can tell she thinks that he should know." Ziva says. "But how am I supposed to tell the man that I kissed goodbye without speaking with him again, that I didn't tell him about his daughter, almost died, and stayed away for three years?"

"You still love him." Tim observes. "Which is a good thing, because he went crazy when he thought you died. And then he left and only one thing made him come back. His family. He'd want to know that you're alive."

"I miss him. I really miss him." Ziva confesses. "I miss his laugh, his smirk. Everything. I had a little bit of it, in Tali, but it wasn't ever him. And I miss Tali, more than ever. I know she's safe with Tony, but she's my daughter. My baby."


	6. Chapter 6

"You are quite beautiful." They hear over the speakers. The voice is speaking in a heavy accent, talking to Sophie.

"I love your accent." Sophie smiles at the man. "I'm Rayne. My friend is Elizabeth."

"She's coming up with a backstory on the fly." Ziva mumbles, impressed at Sophie's skill.

"Not on the fly. She came up with Elizabeth and Rayne a few weeks ago, if they were under not a deep cover they need. Rayne is Sophie's middle name." Tim explains. "So she just uses that when needed. And Elizabeth is close to Eleanor, which Ellie likes. Just skirt underneath the truth."

"I wouldn't have thought of giving them backstories. This is just an operation to gather intelligence. I did not even think of them making contact with them."

"Sophie thinks about that. She's smart. Really, really smart. She might have gotten married early, but she graduated with a bachelor's degree the same year she graduated from college. She came here with her husband, and promptly used her abilities to solve her own son's kidnapping. She's...a bit like you, if we're being honest." Tim says, not looking at Ziva. "Pretty much a badass."

"Is she...like her dad?" Ziva asks. "She has good instincts, does she have them too?"

"She is so much like him, it's hard to see where he ends and her mother begins. And it's gotten worse since they met, the two just mesh together." Tim explains.

"She meshes well with someone other than herself?" Ziva asks, confused.

"Very well. She is basically a smarter, prettier version of her father." Tim says. "It's bad when they're together."

"Tony DiNozzo has been tracked to Paris, France." Ziva tenses, hearing that in Arabic. "Leroy Gibbs and Timothy McGee are located in DC. David, on the other hand, we do not know." This comes from the man with his arm around Ellie. At her confused look, he simply smiles, and says, "Beautiful woman, I am happy with you sitting with me." In English.

Ellie grins at the man, seeming to move closer to him.

"You, darling." The man with Sophie starts. "You are like...a fresh breeze on a sunny day. Wonderful." He tips her head up, grinning at her. He leans in for a kiss and she backs up a little bit. "What is the matter, gorgeous?"

"We've only just met." Sophie smiles at him. "Shouldn't we get to know one another a little bit first?"

"Are you sure, darling? We could have fun." He says, running a hand over her cheek.

Tim and Ziva can hear the apprehension in her voice whenever she says. "I'm sure. I don't even know your name."

"I am Xirsi. You can call me Hersh." The man tips her chin back, intent on kissing her.

She scoots away a little bit. "I said no," Sophie says softly. "Not right now."

"I understand, Rayne." He says with a frown. He turns back to his friend, speaking Arabic once more. "We can grab the girl. Tomorrow, before they get on their plane back here."

Sophie tries to keep herself from tensing. The man with Ellie speaks Arabic, "She's only a child."

"Ah, but she's a way to completely cripple three of those that we are after." Sophie's partner tells the other in the same language. "Gibbs, David, and DiNozzo. And it'll hurt McGee."

"But she's a child. We promised no children, ever." The other protests.

Abruptly, Sophie stands up. "I need to go." She tells her friend. "But this is my number." She takes his hand and writes her number down on it. Ellie also stands, but doesn't give out her number.

"I'll be going as well," Ellie tells the other male. Both women walk away from the men.


End file.
